Editor’s note: This poem kicks off a new “Question Worth Asking” series: “How weird will the future be?” First up: a piece from poet and TED Fellow Ben Burke.

[Dear Helen- So sorry. Didn’t have time to write that poem. But my future self sent me one yesterday. So we’re good. Crazy, right? It’s totally legit and actually from the future, so no need to double-check, you’re probably too busy anyway. Happy New Year! – Ben Burke]

THE TRANSHUMANIST’S LAMENT
or
TOO MANY RIVERS, NOT ENOUGH LAKES
or
OH, FUTURE — YOU SO CRAZY

I arrived in the basket that was weaved here before me
And I stayed in any place with a roof that would store meI have lots of belongingsBut didn’t pack for the trip
I got here, they put pants on me
And then the world gave me the slip

I’ve lived as slowly as I couldBecause there was no time to waste
But then things just got so weird
That I just had to grab your earAnd give the tongue inside your mind a little taste:

For example:

The wallpaper can see that you’re stressed,So it turns a lovely shade of blue
The thermostat has thought things overAnd is ready to have a word with you

And your closet picked out your outfitfor the party Friday night
Whilst the blender and the toastermade vindaloo by candlelight

But your personality algorithmwas accidentally miswritten
You forgot your fingernails were all encodedand you bit them

Now the discs of your thumbnailsare gangrene, corrupted
The chip that was slippedtwixt each digit erupted

Your sensors and servosImplants and additions
All bent towards a personal program of precision

Your body’s expandedYour spirit is failing
The row boat got a motor but wants to be sailing

Yes every Thing now is thinkingWe are each our own king
But there’s no kingdom here to speak ofIt’s a pot luck, but we’ve nothing to bring

For the air now is as thick as the seaWith every thing we created, each idea we have dreamed

Yes we screamed and filled the skies with drones and clones of drones
Now they’re crashing on our couches as they move into our homesAnd taking in some old stray nanobots
Now the drones have a family
Now the drones have a dogThere’s so many drones, we all miss having cops

Yes life never stops, there’s no room to start overThough we have deftly fashioned countless walls
Every thing that you want or you need or just hoped forIs always round the corner, and just down the hall

We are tubes inside of tubes inside of tubes inside of more
We are a sinking ship that’s filled with valves, and pouches, switches, doors

A whirling servo for your heart-
It no longer beats, it hums
Every poem will be disposed of that once compared our hearts to drums

We are a hurricane that just built a fountainA pile of rocks with an eye for the mountain
But keep your ears to the ground for the countingFor the number of hooves that are rumbling round itNumb to the sound of the sirens surrounding

For we will stretch ourselves furtherThan we ever have beforeAnd one day, there’s no doubt, we will snap

With our nose to the grindstoneof progressWe’ll all make our wayto the top, then collapse

For though we’ve imagined where it is we’re all headed-We do not yet know where we stand
The future can’t hold for us a promise, my friendIt’s a ghost with a pair of clouds for hands

Yes the future isn’t waiting there for us-It is quietly being pulled through us
It’s an illustration of our secret waysand yet we cannot say who drew us

For as soon as the word is pronouncedThere’s a parade!
The new product arrives!In your earOn your fingerUp your noseAndIn your eyes

Yes we’ve figured out a way to make you all feel MORE alive(side effects may includeshortness of breaththoughts of suicide or deathbut most likely justanxietyand hives)

You’ll be a walking coral reefYou’ll be the tide pools filled with teeth
You’ll be a mouth that’s always chewingYou’ll be a tongue that’s underneath it allYou’ll be the roof, the ceiling, and all the papered walls

You’ll be prefixedWith endoAnd intraAnd supra

As they watch youAnd poke youAnd cut youAnd shoot ya

Let us mend every seam with some suturesLet them sew up the holes in your life with the future

But who are we inside of this thing that we’ve built?We’re a bowl full of milk that’s about to be spilt

For there is always a storm that is comingThe word on the tip of all tongues now is fear
We’d all love to cry out, but we’re too filled with doubtThat’s no diamond, my friend, it’s a tear

That’s no animal, in fact-No we’ve all just learnedeach of them is a sentient being
Why there’s so many factsThat are all in the past
It’s unbelievable- the things that we weren’t seeing

It turns out that Reiki is realAnd meditation’s no longer a joke
We’ve all been such fools, but now we teach it in the schoolsAnd yes the hippies are all pretty stoked

And the universe, it just so happens,Is just the way Tesla found it-
It’s all about frequencies… and vibrations….. and thingsWe just had to wrap our little heads around it

Yes, we still don’t like the unknownWe need to have things defined
We want our world to make senseWe like it when nature rhymes

Even if only slightlyEven if we must bend
What we see and we hear to fit the means to our end

We all just spend our livesTrying to overcome our births
Trying to get along with DeathAnd then untie ourselves from Earth

Now we vacation on the moonAnd yes, we’ve flown beyond the stars
And can you guess where I just sent this from?I’ll give you a hint- It’s Mars

Now we can grow your bones for youAnd buildings build themselves, for free
But there’s still work for you to do:
You must remember how to be-

Just like the ocean when it’s thinking
Just be that storm that’s always brewingYou’re an ideaJust one idea
Of what one person on earth could be doing

And what animal doesn’t loveGoing out to chase wonder?
Only to learn of the lightningjust before there is thunder?

Look above you- it’s rainingLook around- there’s a flood
Who can say when it started,but now the ghost is in our blood

We can only move forwardOnly turn back for a time
Now the only sacred space leftIn the worldIs our mind

And it’s running away with itself and the othersLike the wind through the trees-
Phantom sisters and brothersHave gone the way of the bees
And the birds and the lovers

Yes they’ve all been drawn and quarteredA million horses left the track
The future will take your mind off of itself-So I suggest you start stealing it back

For our time here, like the twilightIs precious and fading
And while there’s certainly nothing new under the sun-Under the moon, there is waiting